The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.K.’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the private fusion company Tokamak Energy Ltd. (TE) today announced a plan to jointly sponsor a $52 million upgrade to the ST40 experimental fusion facility to advance fusion science and technology needed to deliver a future fusion pilot plant. Fusion powers the sun and stars, and, if harnessed on Earth, could provide an abundant, safe, and carbon-emissions-free energy source. This collaboration was selected through the 2025 fiscal year Office of Science open funding opportunity.
In December 2023, the DOE and DESNZ announced a fusion strategic partnership to advance both the U.S. Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy and the UK’s Fusion Strategy. A major goal of the partnership is to establish shared access to and development of facilities needed for fusion research and development (R&D). Through the DOE-DESNZ-TE collaboration, researchers at universities, national laboratories, and institutes in both the U.S. and U.K. will be able to benefit from the research carried out on the privately owned ST40 spherical tokamak. TE is one of eight awardees of DOE’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, where DOE partners with the private sector to advance R&D toward realizing industry-led designs for a fusion pilot plant.
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